The primary goal of this room and equipment is to create a dedicated listening room purposed to optimize music playback. Software consists of SACD discs, a music server containing DSD and high resolution Flac files, and ripped RBCD's.
A house addition that included a dedicated media room was completed February 2015.
Acoustic Frontiers (Nyal Mellor) established the optimum room size consistent with the house addition, designed the room acoustics and provided optimum inside wall dimensions.
The media room acoustic "foundation" consists of an isolated wall system comprised of 130 Kinetics IsoMax clips attached to 1-1/2" furring strips nailed to CBS blocks on all four walls. 440 linear feet of 25mm hat channel is supported by the isolation clips. R-11 open faced fiberglass (3-1/2" thickness) fills the empty areas between the CBS walls and drywall. Soundboard XP damped drywall is attached to the hat channel. Acoustic sealant seals the areas between the top, bottom, corner areas of the damped drywall.
The ceiling utilizes Soundboard XP attached to the ceiling joists. The media room attic has R-38 fiberglass insulation. A knee-wall with attached R30 fiberglass insulation separates the media room attic and the original structure interior attic area.
The A/V electronics are served by a dedicated 100A electrical sub-panel with (4) 20A circuits and 20A Furutech GTX-D duplex receptacles. Twisted pair wiring (#12) is used for each circuit with the neutral and hot wires wrapped on 2" centers and the ground wire placed parallel in PVC conduit. A paper presented at the 2010 AES 129th Convention shows this method has the lowest ground voltage induction tested.
The media room has a dedicated 1-1/2 ton A/C system. Large exhaust ducts in each room corner, and a large return duct on the rear ceiling leading to the air handler/evaporator minimizes room noise.
Acoustic Frontiers incorporated my existing Rives Audio ceiling "clouds" and using room dimensions and frequency measurements specified the interior room acoustic products and locations. The acoustic design creates a flatter frequency response; lowers the room reverberation time; and provides bass trapping. Clarity, sound staging, and imaging are all improved while keeping the room as live as possible.
The interior acoustic panel positioning:
- Ceiling: (4) 6'x6' wood frame acoustic "clouds" hung with all thread from the ceiling joists room centered. Each wood frame consists of (4) 2'x4' RPG BAD panels supported by the frame support structure. UltraTouch R19 sound absorption batts are placed on top of the structure.
- Front wall: (2) 39"x59" RPG Modex type 1 plates (outward positions), (2) 39"x59" RPG Modex broadband panels (inward positions). Panels with 6" spacing except at side walls, hung 23" from floor.
- Side walls: (3) 2'x2' RPG BAD ARC panels @ the L/R wall first reflection points; (3) 2'x2' Listen Audio natural birch diffusers @ the L/R 2nd reflection points; (3) 2'x2' Listen Audio natural birch diffusers flanking the listening positions on the R sidewall and behind the listening positions on the L sidewall. All panels hung 18" from floor.
- Rear wall: (1) 6'x6'x12"d absorber box (R38 fiberglass filled) centered. The existing floor standing RPG BAD panel templates wrapped with acoustic cloth attached to the front of the absorber box. The absorber box is hung 26" from the floor.
Room dimensions, equipment positions, D3 Measurements: see Media Room Floor Plan drawing in photos.
A JL Audio F212v2 subwoofer has been volume matched and phase degrees aligned with a 90Hz crossover, DARO applied. DH Labs SubSonic II RCA cables are connected to the F212v2 from the JL Audio CR-1. The CR-1 is set with a 24 dB octave slope. The (3) D3 bass ports have are plugged with closed cell poly foam to prevent front wall reflections. The system has a palpable low end that blends completely with the stereo speakers. The stereo amp no longer has to support low bass, and the mids and highs from my D3s are appreciable improved.
A JVC RS2000 front projector is suspended from the rear ceiling; Definitive Technology SR-8080BP surrounds are hung on rear left/right walls 6' above the listening position, and a DaLite JKP Affinity 16:9 (67.5 X 120" viewing area) motorized screen hung from ceiling at the front wall.
A solid "system foundation" ensures optimum performance of audio equipment:
- precise stereo speaker positioning relative to front, back, parallel walls; the listening position; and away from obstacles;
- Room acoustics designed to minimize sound reflections and room modes that can "smear" audio and create spikes and nulls;
- a 100A sub-panel with (4) Dedicated 20A A/V circuits;
- Synergistic cabling (PC's, IC's, SC's) ensures design continuity throughout the electrical path;
- Resonance control to isolate audio equipment EMI and vibration.
Thick wool area rugs with jute are used to partially cover wood floor surfaces at the rear wall, and between the listening position and speakers.
White LED strip lights at the outside perimeter of the ceiling "clouds" provide general purpose room lighting. Blue LED strip lights around inside perimeter of the ceiling "clouds" provide mood lighting.
Dimensions: 19’ × 15’ Medium
Ceiling: 11’
